Among the topics discussed are potential delays in competing devices from Samsung and HTC (2498TW) and other companies that use Google‘s (GOOG) Android operating system, and whether Apple has to manage the public appearance of the verdict, to avoid seeming like it’s denying competition.

Note that Apple this afternoon filed its request to ban sales of 8 older Samsung products, including the “Galaxy S 4G, and the “Droid Charge,” as related byBloomberg‘s Joel Rosenblatt. Newer devices, such as the “Galaxy S III” smartphone, released in June in the U.S., are not included in the ruling.

Brian White, Topeka Capital Markets: Reiterates a Buy rating on Apple stock and a $1,111 price target. “We believe this verdict enhances the Apple brand as “the innovator” in the smartphone and tablet markets at the expense of Samsung Electronics that some will now view as the “imitator”, while also providing a strong disincentive for future “copying” of Apple products [...] Apple’s victory is part of Apple’s “thermonuclear war” on Android and we expect this verdict to have some impact on the growth of the Android ecosystem. Keep in mind, there are currently several other lawsuits between Apple and Samsung around the world.”

Pierre Ferragu, Bernstein Research: Reiterates a Market Perform rating on HTC shares, writing that the “Patent Wars,” as he calls them, are progressing well. “The industry’s “Gentleman Club” for Intellectual Property needs to be reset, in our view. Handset Manufacturers have to redefine what IP has to be shared for the good sake of the industry and on what conditions [...] Last week’s ruling doesn’t really affect this, although it puts Apple in a much stronger position. We believe things are progressing well on both fronts. Most important Android players have now entered licensing agreements with Microsoft.
The Samsung-Apple case revealed the latter made proposals to license at least some of its IP.”

Richard Windsor, Nomura Equity Research: “This means that the rest of the Android ecosystem may be sucked into the fray, as Apple now has legal precedent where its patents have been tested by trial and been upheld [...] This is a powerful weapon with which Apple will be able to go after other members of the Android ecosystem who it perceives are infringing on its patents in the same way as Samsung.”

Peter Misek, Jefferies &Co.: Reiterates a Buy rating and a $900 price target. We believe this is a huge victory for Apple [...] We would expect a settlement following an unsuccessful appeal by Samsung [...] While
there is going to almost certainly be an appeal by Samsung, we believe the evidence and weight of the case are heavily in Apple’s favor [...] In our view, the challenge for the Android camp now is that Apple will likely pursue the other Android vendors.”

Maynard Um, Wells Fargo: Reiterates an Outperform rating, while raising his “valuation range” from a prior $640 to $660 to $740 to $760. “In our opinion, the court system has been a key lever in a company’s ability to gain a more favorable position over a competitor in negotiations (i.e., for patent royalties). We believe this is a strong first step for Apple in its patent war [...] If Apple is successful to conclusion, we believe it could result in a significant royalty stream, all else equal in Samsung’s share [...] Apple calculated Samsung owed it $250MM in 2010 (on an estimated 25MM smartphones and 2MM tablets), assuming certain discounts. We think this amount would be higher in 2012 at that rate with Samsung having sold an estimated 50MM smartphones in Q2 alone (hence, even a lower rate could result in a royalty greater than $250MM/yr). We est that every $250MM in royalty revenue equates to roughly $0.20 in EPS, all else equal.”

Keith Bachman, BMO Capital Markets: Reiterates an Outperform rating and a $680 price target. “We think Samsung will appeal the ruling, so we don’t think the final chapter has been written.  We think it will be harder for Apple to win a similar ruling in international markets, though similar cases are pending in Europe and other regions. We note that a South Korean court had a different ruling, which determined that Samsung did not copy the design of Apple’s iPhone and that Apple infringed on Samsung’s wireless technology. We think it will be important for Apple not to appear to be a bully to consumers. We would not be surprised to see the press take the view that the verdict lessons competition, and that Apple will need to promote the view that Apple was just protecting its innovation and IP.”

Mike Walkley, Canaccord Genuity: Reiterates a Buy rating and a $797 price target. “While a ban would likely increase Apple’s leading smartphone share in the U.S. market, we believe this verdict could lead to Samsung also delaying near-term product launches as it attempts to design around Apple’s patents. We also believe other Android OEMs, such as HTC, Sony, and LG, will review this patent verdict and potentially alter and delay planned Android smartphones and tablets. We believe this verdict strengthens Apple’s already strong competitive position in the smartphone and tablet markets ahead of upcoming key product launches such as the iPhone 5.”

Ben Reitzes, Barclays Capital: Reiterates an Overweight rating and a $750 price target. “While we realize the verdict will be appealed, we believe the ruling marks an important victory for Apple against Android. Competitors may now think twice about how they compete in smart mobility devices with the industry’s clear innovator. If Apple forces competitors to innovate more, it could take longer for competitive products to come to market, and make it more expensive to develop them. As a result, Apple’s pricing umbrella could be sustained longer while it should also sell more units over time.”

Tavis McCourt, Raymond James: Reiterates an Outperform rating and an $800 price target, calling Friday’s decision a “huge” one. “This case is not about the money – it’s about the ability of Apple to successfully patent and defend software patents related to the touch interface that many consumers view as ‘industry standard.’ A second victory too. Less reported upon, but potentially just as important, Apple won a decision from the U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday as well, which decided that Apple has not violated 3G and Wi-Fi patents held by Motorola Mobility (now Google) [...] Google fired another massive volley, and the media barely noticed. With all the focus on the San Jose trial, the media hardly noticed earlier in the week when Google/Motorola Mobility filed another lawsuit with the ITC seeking to ban import of all iOS and Mac products for infringing on seven patents.”

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There are 8 comments

AUGUST 27, 2012 1:31 P.M.

Anonymous wrote:

BMO has an AAPL price target of $680?! Well that's the same as a sell at this point. Or does it have anything to do with that clown who's the CEO of BCE sitting on the board at BMO. Kinda like when Stymiest then the COO of RBC sat on the board of RIM and an hour or so before earnings RBC's analyst Abramsky and Scotia's Papageorgiou targeted RIM at $200-$250 when the stock was $148 and it's been downhill ever since. Canadians eh.

AUGUST 27, 2012 2:39 P.M.

Market Mayhem wrote:

Who cares what the analysts set as a target price? It doesn't mean a damn thing. You think Brian White's target price of $1,100 is ever going to be met? Highly unlikely. I doubt Zabisky's Apple target price of $270 will be met, either. Amazon almost always is close to its target price because usually as soon as a target price is set, the stock just jumps up to meet it. Apple is always lagging behind its target prices except for the most conservative ones. Apple might be up today, but it won't last. I'm sure there's a big Apple sell-off waiting to happen.

AUGUST 27, 2012 2:57 P.M.

anonymous wrote:

Can you imagine if AAPL computers had become the standard instead of IBM PC( yes IBM PC).
People will still be paying $5000 for the laptop.
It is time for AAPL to go back to where it was in the 90s.
There should be lots of law suits like it happened to MSFT on monopoly issues.

AUGUST 27, 2012 5:15 P.M.

Jerrymaven wrote:

It's good that anonymous is anonymous, otherwise he would be sent to a funny farm. To claim that Apple is a monopoly when it has a bare percentage of both the smartphone and computer market is beyond stupid. And as for the cost of computers, what electronics are not cheaper than they were decades ago? Hasn't he heard of the economics of scale and the fact that over time innovations in electronics and manufacturing lowers costs of production? The hatred directed at Apple because it defends its intellectual property is pure mindlessness by people who think -- I use that word advisedly -- that everything should be given away for free. Would they like a squatter moving into their house or apartment and call it home? That's precisely what Samsung did when it slavishly copied the iphone.

@ anonymous @ 2:57 PM.
When you walk. Don't lean forward too much. You could end up with your head in a hole in the ground or up your rectum. And you wouldn't know the difference.

@ Jerrymaven.
Agree. You are so right on.

Re BMO's Kieth Bachman. You must live in denial and that means what comes to you is time delayed. Canadian = Slow Time. Like how far is it? It's an hour?!

AUGUST 27, 2012 6:00 P.M.

Silver Switch wrote:

The vast majority of android users do not care. They would much rather download music and videos illegally. They all complain of Apples "closed garden" but in reality it's much more secure than android will ever be. Most android users waited until the "copycats" came out so they could have the Apple experience on a stolen O/S. What they fail to realise is that google tracks and uses every piece of information for and against them. You have no privacy in this world anymore and google is doing it's very best to exploit your personal information. Googles mistake was in only aquiring Moto. The majority of those patents are FRAND patents and likewise are to be licensed under Fair and resonsonable terms. Apple invented pinch to zoom and the rubber banding technology as a way to make the user experience more pleasing. There were obviously other user interfaces that samsung infringed upon. You people have toi remember that before the iphone if a device had a browser you were relagated to waiting for pages to load and having to read at a very small scale.

AUGUST 27, 2012 7:14 P.M.

Apple Heaven wrote:

Don't know why some of these analysts treat Apple patents as though they are standards. It was the insight into internal Samsung e-mails that clearly showed a willful intent to copy Apple. This is in addition to the excellent presentation by Apple lawyers showing the more that coincidental likeness of Samsung products with Apples. Samsung will lose their appeal hands down. If I were the CEO of Samsung, I wouldn't be throwing good money after bad with an appeal. I would be spending money coming up with a Samsung experience that is provocative and a new design.

AUGUST 28, 2012 12:02 A.M.

Apple Turnover wrote:

The hedge funds are going to continue to control Apple. Apple needs to split the stock so individual investors can get a piece of the pie and somewhat dilute the hedge funds' control of Apple's share price. There needs to be something done about Apple's share volatility. Maybe individual investors will stick with the stock instead of dumping it over every small, unsubstantiated rumor. One more thing I'd like to see Apple do and that is get into banking. Apple's got more reserve cash than most banks. Apple should lend out money to those consumers looking to buy Apple products (at a healthy interest rate, of course). Apple has all those credit card holders and maybe Apple can strike a deal with Visa or Mastercard. Wall Street seems to favor companies whose fingers are in a lot of various pies. Like Amazon, for instance.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.